Nobility Hath no Shape

Hey everyone, I hope you all are gearing up for the upcoming holidays and didn't have too hectic of a Black Friday shopping spree (I was almost run over by women fighting over discounted scrap booking supplies; ah the perils of being an artist). I thought I'd introduce one of the myriad of goals behind this blog of mine; to occasionally post a WIP (Work In Progress) so you can see how a drawing evolves.


I've chosen one of my surprisingly enigmatic drawings for you all. This was a simple drawing I did of an adorable little donkey at my local Zoo, which surprisingly draws in people more than any other drawing I've done. I cannot figure out why, but people just love this little guy. The title, "Nobility Hath no Shape" came about because I always have had a soft spot for donkeys, even if they are not considered as sleek as horses.

For this project I am using Prismacolor Pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes board (you can find these pencils at almost any art and craft store and the Canson Mi-Teintes boards can be found at many art stores, I get mine from either http://www.dickblick.com/ or http://www.danielsmith.com/ )


Here's the rough draft I did of him before transferring him over to his final support of grey Canson Mi-Teinets board.


Here he is taped with drafting tape (on the back) to a drawing board, I've started laying in some of the underlying colors of his coat. And yes I couldn't resist starting off on his big bunny-like ears.



Now a lot of the complementary colors are being used (see the blue face he has right now?) I'm working a lot with Indigo Blue and Tuscan Red to create a nice dark color that I then go over with Black or Dark Umber colors. Also when I work with color pencils I make sure that I really get them ingrained into the tooth of the board. I really don't do the whole light layering technique, but more of a 'really push them in there and get those layers built up' approach. I think that is how I get a painterly effect with them (most people confuse my color pencils for either acrylic or oil paintings).



And here's the little guy all cleaned up.

Hope you all enjoyed this, I'll try to document more of my projects in various stages and post them for you all to see. Email me if you have any questions or want me to further explain anything in another blog.

~ Kenna